10 ways to serve on Father’s Day: Bonus Episode

Show Transcripts:

Intro: Welcome to the Father on Purpose Podcast, featuring author and ministry leader, Kent Evans, and business executive and military veteran, Lawson Brown. This is a show for you, Dad. You want to be a godly an intentional father? Unfortunately, you’ve turned to these two knuckleheads for help. Let us know how that works out for you. Before we begin, remember this. You are not a father on accident, so go be a father on purpose. Please welcome your hosts, Kent and Lawson.

Lawson Brown: Kent, how you doing, buddy boy?

Kent Evans: Fantastic.

Lawson Brown: Hey dude, this is a cool thing that we’re doing. I’m looking forward to getting into it super fast. So here’s the deal. Culture tells us Father’s Day is the one day each year when it’s our day. A day for us to receive gifts, like socks, a tie maybe. Who knows? It’s always hard to buy things for dads. A belt. Cards are great, but you know what? What we’re hearing from culture is basically the underlying message being, “You deserve to receive something today.” Yet-

Kent Evans: And I do.

Lawson Brown: Good for you. That’s not what we’re trying to accomplish here. Thanks for the interruption.

Kent Evans: Oh, shoot.

Lawson Brown: Yet the Bible tells us, it reminds us to serve one another. Galatians 5:13-14 says, “For you are called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So let’s flip the script, dude, let’s go against the grain and use Father’s Day as a day when we can model service to other people, especially those in our family. Let’s be counterculture and celebrate who we are as fathers on purpose. Let’s display our joy as fathers, just by setting an example of gratitude. There’s some ways that we’re going to get into that.

Kent and I talked about this and we put our heads together and found 10 ways you can do this, flip the script, and we’re going to serve them up to you today rapid-fire. Take one, all 10, whatever. I suspect you’re going to hear this list of 10 as we go through them pretty quickly, one or two are going to pop out to you and you’re going to be like, “Oh, cool. That’s me. That’s what I’m going to do.” So go bless people around you this Father’s Day.

Kent Evans: Yeah. There’s 10 easy ways, Lawson, and we even sourced them from some of our friends, did some texting and got some ideas. And so, Dad, what we want to give you are 10 quick ways you can serve the people around you so that Father’s Day becomes a day where you serve, you’re not just being served. Lawson and I are going to kick them back and forth real fast. Hopefully this whole episode only lasts about 10 minutes. 10 ideas in 10 minutes. Lawson, you’re up first.

Lawson Brown: One, bring your wife coffee in bed. Now, that may be something that you do often, or you know what? Maybe for circumstances, your wife’s not with you guys or is not home for this weekend. So how about if you’re the health… Here’s another same thing, but for your kids, if you’re a health stickler, if you’re that guy and always like, “Don’t do this, don’t eat that.” How about this? Just this once break the rules, surprise them and have like a pancake bar. Wow them with your flexibility and have some fun. If you’re going to do it, do it right. That’s number one.

Kent Evans: Number two, write your kids a note. If you have younger kids, write them a note. If they’re older, maybe out of the house, maybe it’s a text message. What you’re going to do is you’re going to tell them why you love being their dad, not just a dad. Maybe you share a story of a time when you were particularly proud of them. You write some kind of blessing to them, like, “I see how God is using you to do this thing,” and just speak life through a note or a text message to your kids. Number three.

Lawson Brown: Or maybe a Facebook post, Instagram post something where-

Kent Evans: I like it, that’s good.

Lawson Brown: … not only they will see it, but their friends will see it.

Kent Evans: So you’re going to bring them something in bed. You’re going to write a note. Number three, think of one positive attribute of each family member and share it out loud with them. Now, I know that’ll scare some of you introverted dads, the quiet, silent, strong types, but here’s the thing. Maybe your kids are kind or funny, or diligent or thoughtful. Praise their character, not just their accomplishments, and do it out loud. It’s like water to a thirsty soul, especially if they hear you say it in front of other people. Lawson, what’s number four?

Lawson Brown: If your own dad is alive, call that guy and talk to him, affirm him, let him know you love him. And if your family’s with you, gather them around. Do a group FaceTime or put him on speakerphone and just, “Hey dad, we were all sitting around here talking about you and thinking about you, and we love you. Hope you have a great day today, happy Father’s Day,” and have each person maybe on the phone round-robin around the phone there and thank them, or tell one story or one thing they love or admire the most about him.

Kent Evans: Now, number five, maybe your dad has passed away, and one way you can honor him on Father’s Day would be to ask someone who knew him, maybe it’s your mom if she’s still alive, or a friend of his or a relative, to share a story about him. People love to reminisce about people, especially on key milestone days like Father’s Day. You could even leverage that story somehow. For example, you may get a story about your dad you didn’t know, and you can relay that story to your own kids or have your mom tell it to your own kids. Express gratitude for your own father in some way and share how he might have shaped you positively.

Lawson Brown: Six, send an encouraging text to some other dad.

Kent Evans: Wait a minute. Lawson, you mean like outside my family, like some other dad?

Lawson Brown: That’s right. Yeah, that’s right. There’s some guys out there that maybe their kids are all grown and gone and they’re having a quiet weekend, and Father’s Day is kind of a downer. So look for the overlooked, or maybe it’s a young dad with a new baby. Maybe it’s a grieving dad whose wife or family is estranged. Ask yourself who out there needs to not feel alone today on Father’s Day? And one other thought is maybe someone’s working. A lot of dads are out there working on Father’s Day. Delivery drivers, servers, construction workers, call center employees. So keep an eye out and look for a place to give an encouraging word.

Kent Evans: And for those of you keeping score at home, number six, Lawson said that is if their family is estranged. He didn’t say if their family is strange, okay? Those aren’t the same thing.

Lawson Brown: Yeah, that’d be all of us.

Kent Evans: Number seven, laugh together as a family. You might do this by running through some bad dad jokes, right? Just go Google them, you’ll find hundreds, and pull them out. And the more your kids grown, probably the better it’s going. Or maybe you pull up, like a couple guys I love, I just laugh my head off and they’re just super clean. I can listen to them with my family, a guy like Michael Jr. video, or get a Tim Hawkins video and watch some of his music. I think those guys are hilarious, but find a way to laugh together as a family. That’s number seven.

Lawson Brown: Number eight, get your grill on. Cook out for your family. Now, that may not sound all that new, obviously on Father’s Day we think about that, especially as it’s beginning to be summertime, but how about this? Make a new Father’s Day recipe tradition. Teach one of your kids how to light the fire if they’re old enough. I remember the day that my dad taught me how to light the fire. It’s somehow sticking in my brain. Or teach them how to check the temperature on the meat. Involve them, is the point. Something as simple as hold the stopwatch before you flip the steak kind of thing, or flip the burgers. So, get your grill on, involve the family, have a fun cookout.

Kent Evans: Number nine, maybe you tackle one of those nagging kind of honey-do items. Whoops, I used the word nagging when I said honey-do items. I didn’t mean to say that. What I meant was one of those honey-do items you just haven’t gotten around to yet. And maybe if your kids are old enough, you can pull them in on the play, right? Maybe they can hold the flashlight, or like my son a couple weekends ago, he can start to learn the difference between a flathead screwdriver and a Phillips head screwdriver. Knock out one or two items that you just haven’t yet had time to conquer. That’s number nine.

Lawson Brown: You’re busted. Number 10, read a scripture out loud at lunch or dinner. Let the family know why did you choose that scripture? Why is it on your heart? Why is it meaningful to you as their dad? And actually, Ken, I think I’m going to use Galatians 5:13-14, because they know that we’re doing a podcast similar to this, but they don’t know everything about it. So I think I’m going to do that and explain a little bit about why we’re wanting to flip the script on Father’s Day.

Kent Evans: Those are your top 10 items, but wait, there’s more. Don’t order now-

Lawson Brown: Always.

Kent Evans: … we have a special bonus, because we don’t just stop here at 10 out of 10 at the Father on Purpose Podcast, you get more than you pay for. Here’s the extra mile. Number 11, pray with your wife. Ooh, I know I just scared a bunch of dads. Maybe you do this every day. Maybe this is just like falling off a log for you. Maybe you’ve never ever done it, but regardless, take a moment to pray with your wife, and specifically in your prayer you can thank God for her. Thank God for her being a godly, faithful, dedicated mom. I’m sure there’s some awesome attributes of your wife you could mention to God and praise. Express your gratitude about getting to be a father alongside her.

Maybe after we went through these 11, you have an even better idea, or you tried some of these and you want to share with us how it went. Come to our website, manhoodjourney.org/podcast. You will see a button right there that says Start Recording. You can send us a voicemail, leave us a message. What did you do? How did it go? What changed about your perspective behind Father’s Day when you flipped the script? If we hear some great ones, we’ll play them in some upcoming episodes. I hope these 10 ideas for how you can serve… 11 ideas for how you can serve people around you on Father’s Day will help you flip the script and have a even more meaningful Father’s Day than ever before. Take care, guys. Go be a father on purpose.

Outro: You’ve been dozing off to the Father on Purpose Podcast, featuring Kent Evans and Lawson Brown. Now wake up, head over to fatheronpurpose.org for more tools that can help you be a godly, intentional, and not completely horrible dad. Remember, you are not a father on accident, so go be a father on purpose.